Paths
by Uber Prinny Lord
Summary: Iruka never saved Naruto from an incoming shuriken, nor did he encourage him - the Jinchuriki realized who he truly was, and everything changed from that day on. Warning: the story features an incredibly moody Naruto... Don't expect any 'dattebayo' here, folks.
1. Another Path is Chosen

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Naruto-related merchandise and/or characters.

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><p>He honestly thought that this would be his big break: by bringing Mizuki the scroll containing the (unbeknown to Naruto) forbidden jutsu he had asked for, the boy believed that Mizuki would train him or at the very least acknowledge him and thank him for actions.<p>

And what did he get, instead?

"That's right, kid: you're the container of the Kyuubi, the demon that laid waste to our village 12 years ago - that's how people are going to see you for as long as you live and long after you die. In fact, why don't you do us all a favor and go to hell right now!"; Iruka, who was injured by a giant shuriken to the back, could only watch helplessly as Mizuki drew his kunai, racing forward to claim the life of the young blond...

_When Mizuki's words registered within Naruto's mind, a part of him died - or rather, shattered - as many puzzle pieces finally fell into place and his miserable life made sense to him in a cruel and unforgiving manner: indeed, so long as the Kyuubi was a part of him - even if Naruto's mind was left completely unaffected - all hopes of leading a normal life have been effectively crushed._

_Those voices he kept hearing in his head finally made sense, too: all that taunting and whispering that came from seemingly nowhere, was the Kyuubi's doing in hopes of mentally breaking down the boy into tearing off his seal in desperation - how ironic it was, then, that the Kyuubi failed to realize that while it could not break the boy by torturing him, merely revealing its identity would have done the job that much faster and that much more efficiently._

_With the truth revealed and his soul in shambles, Naruto didn't know whether to cry, despair or run amok in pure, unrestrained fury; but then it came to him: when life becomes so hard, so frustrating and unfair, what was the only thing he could possibly do?_

He laughed.

At first, it was merely a low chuckling sound that made Mizuki stop in his tracks; a few seconds later, it sounded like the kind of luagh you'd make after hearing a decent joke, but it soon became louder and more maniacal, finally reaching its climax as Naruto bellowed in demonic, insane laughter that had his head rearing up to the skies and scared off just about every animal within hearing radius. Even Iruka, who had seen quite a few disturbing sights in his life up till then, could feel the blood freezing in his veins at the sight of his now mentally unstable pupil.

The laughter came to an abrupt end as Naruto's head dropped, his tone cold: "This would normally be the part where I'd start denying things or just accept it all and try to protect Iruka-sensei by fighting you; instead, I'm just gonna go ahead and thank you, Mizuki: if it hadn't been for you, who knows for how long I would've lived in a lie and how much effort I would've placed in protecting a village that sees me as the reincarnation of evil, itself. Allow me to properly thank you by letting you be the first one to witness my newest technique... Shadow Clone Jutsu."

About a hundred Naruto shadow clones came into being with a 'poof!' of smoke, all of them circling the original Naruto as well as Iruka and Mizuki, preventing the latter's possible escape.

Though frightened, Mizuki smirked and taunted Naruto: "What are you trying to pull? Even if these are shadow clones, a single strike to their vital organs will all but destroy them in seconds; what makes you think, then, that I won't stab them in the heart the moment they come after me?"; Naruto finally raised his head, filling Iruka with shock and Mizuki with dread: the look on Naruto's face was of pure calm, and yet his eyes were half-lidded and showed no emotion - not anger, not sadness, nothing. It was like looking at the face of a dead man.

His voice as cold as before, Naruto answered: "Take a good look at these shadow clones, Mizuki: do you see any hesitation in their eyes?"; to Mizuki's shock, all of the clones had those exact emotionless eyes that sent sent shivers down his spine and they were all in position to leap at him as soon as they heard the command to do so.

"Take him out."

It was over in a matter of seconds: Mizuki, in spite of his rank and experience, was overwhelmed by the number of shadow clones, as well as the way they silently came at him scaring the living hell out of him. He soon found himself held in place by five remaining Kage Bunshin - the rest being dispelled by the original - with his body too weak to resist them all; that, however, was the least of his concerns, for in spite of how badly beaten up the chuunin was, Naruto did something at that moment that caused Mizuki's breathing to momentarily cease: he had picked up his (Mizuki's) kunai and was slowly making his way to the wounded chuunin, the kunai ominously shining in the pale moonlight.

His voice shaky, Mizuki pleaded: "P-Please don't do it, Naruto! I-I swear I won't tell anyone about this, so you'll be able to go back to the academy tomorrow as if nothing happened - isn't that what you want!"; having reached Mizuki, Naruto's expression remained unchanged as he got the kunai in position and calmly said: "You have **nothing** I want, Mizuki - even if you did, I doubt you'd just hand it over and let the whole thing go: after all, this would be the perfect excuse for you to telltale on how the demon has finally broken out of its imprisonment, right? But don't worry, Mizuki: I'm sending you off to a better place, where you won't have to face bloodshed and sacrifice; in a way, you should be thanking **me**, now."

This is where Naruto would begin his life anew: with the end of another's life.

"Goodbye, Mizuki."

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><p><em>"He stabbed Mizuki, you say? What's the extent of the injury?"<em>

_"Fortunately, he missed the heart by mere millimeters so Mizuki's going to live; however, there's no doubt in my mind he intended to murder the man, Lord Hokage."  
><em>

_"This is a rather serious accusation, Iruka; do you have any evidence to back it up?"_

_"I'm afraid not: the only way for me to prove it is to catch him in the act once more."_

_"Hmm... Iruka, you said that he had no emotions in his eyes - would you mind elaborating on that?"_

_"Yes, Lord Hokage: as he approached Mizuki, Naruto had a vacant expression on his face, the kind of expression you'd expect to find upon looking at war orphans and the likes."_

_"I see... If that's true, then __**he**__ might come after Naruto soon enough..."_

_"Excuse me?"_

_"Never mind, it's just the ramblings of an old man. Tell you what: if you deem Naruto too emotionally distraught in order to become a genin, you have my permission to hold him back in the academy; however, I will **not** accept such a decision if it is done because of his... __**other**__ circumstances. Understood?"_

_"Yes, Lord Hokage."_

"Iruka-sensei?"

Said teacher snapped out of his thoughts as he noticed the slightly concerned looks he received from the majority of the class, realizing that he had been in deep-thought for over a minute or so and going against his character.

"Uh, anyway, where was I? Oh, yes: I will now divide you into the teams in which you will receive and accomplish missions together in the future as genin; if you have any complaints regarding your selected teammates, I urge you to approach me after the class is dismissed. Now..."

Naruto hadn't been paying attention as Iruka announced the distribution of teams: said blond was silently staring at the village outside of the class windows, the class surrounding him almost non-existent in his mind. As one would expect, the events of the night before had not left Naruto's mind: he heard that Mizuki would live, both irritating him and calming him; yes, Mizuki deserved death on the account of wanting to betray the village, but murdering someone wasn't going to bring Naruto any closer to his goal, now that he thought about it in retrospective.

"...Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno and Sasuke Uchiha."

All three reacted differently as Iruka's words registered within their minds: Naruto sighed in exasperation, Sakura groaned (Inner Sakura cheered) and Sasuke... well, he was just being Sasuke.

Having noticed something rather fishy about this team, Shikamaru raised his hand and said: "Iruka-sensei, it's not like I'm trying to rain on his parade or anything, but Naruto technically isn't a genin - doesn't that mean he can't be a part of a team?"; realizing his mistake, Iruka rubbed his head as he sheepishly said: "My bad, I guess; well, just so that there won't be any doubts in the future, I hereby declare Uzumaki Naruto an official genin of the Hidden Leaf village!"

Said boy, whom Iruka expected to at least comment on everything that's been going on, merely returned to staring at the village, any words spoken lost on him.

Taking a moment to recover from Naruto's lack of reaction, Iruka continued: "Uh, well, each team will be individually summoned back to this classroom in order to meet their team-leaders later on today; I hope you all bring pride to our village as the next generation of shinobi!"; as the students gradually left the classroom, Iruka called out to Naruto and had him stay for a conversation.

Lowering himself to Naruto's height, Iruka said: "Whether or not you're aware of this, Naruto, I have no idea: fact of the matter is, you shouldn't be allowed to become a genin - actually, you should have been in Ibiki's hands right now for interrogation regarding Mizuki's injuries. Still, after giving it some thought, I've decided I'd allow you to become a genin and join a team; would you like to know why?"

"..."

"It's because I believe there's a part of you that doesn't want to be cold and violent: somewhere inside that mind of yours, there's a great ninja... one that's waiting to take the world by storm. I'm not just saying this in order to cheer you up - having seen you fight, I believe that you can find it within you to utilize your potential and overcome the events of last night. Do you understand?"

"Spare me..."; Naruto began walking away from Iruka, not even turning to face the stunned chunin as he said: "Whatever bond it is you think you have with me, you'd best let it go: that part of me you've warmed up to is dead."; "Naruto, I - !"; "Later."

As Naruto left the classroom, his words kept echoing in Iruka's mind: _"That part of me you've warmed up to is __**dead**__."_

While Sakura was upset with Team 7's leader not showing up in time, Naruto and Sasuke were rather indifferent regarding the matter; Sasuke, however, couldn't help but ask himself just what in the hell was wrong with Naruto - by now, he should have started complaining about how lazy their leader is, but the blond was as stoic as the last Uchiha, himself.

"Yo."

Turning their heads to the classroom door, Team 7 faced their leader who went on to introduce himself as Kakashi Hatake, jounin of the village and their current team-leader. Not wasting anymore time, he had the team make their way to the roof of the academy and told them to introduce themselves to him and to each other.

Realizing it was his turn to speak (he wasn't paying attention to what the others were saying about themselves), Naruto introduced himself: "My name is Naruto Uzumaki. My hobbies used to include eating ramen and pulling pranks on people, but I'm over those. There's nothing I like in particular, and what I dislike is almost the entire village's population, these two idiots (*pointing at Sakura and Sasuke, who glared at him*) in particular. My dream isn't really all that grand: there's someone I'm looking for - someone with the power to grant me my deepest wish. I **will** find that person... Nothing else matters."

Kakashi's visible eyebrow was slightly raised: "Shouldn't your dream be turning into a powerful shinobi or something like that? I suspected you'd at least have some kind of a common aspiration."

Naruto closed his eyes and said: "When it comes to people, it usually is the case, sensei. Me? I'm no human - I'm a weapon."

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><p><em>The village lay in ruins, everyone in it either dead or on the way to meet their maker.<em>

_Ash covered the skies as fire consumed everything in sight, people and constructions alike - an infernal sight to behold._

_He ignored the cries for help and the mourning of people over their beloved ones - for him, there was but one thing he could care about in this hell, and he was coming close to finding it._

_He eventually arrived at the village's gates, both Izumo and Kotetsu - the gate guardians - lying lifelessly on the ground, pools of blood surrounding their corpses._

_Something else caught his sight at that moment - yes, there was no mistaking it: Naruto's journey had come to an end._

_"I've found you..."_

Awakening to the sound of his alarm clock, Naruto yawned as he contemplated the meaning of this recurring dream; as it turned out, his mind couldn't get enough of seeing everything around it in ruins, hence the dream repeating itself. What bothered Naruto the most, however, was his inability to remember one detail alone: the identity of **that** person.

Realizing it would do him no good to sit around and try to make sense of his dreams, Naruto silently put his clothes on and got himself ready for whatever was in store for him on that day; while he _was _expecting recent events to turn some attention towards him, Naruto couldn't say he had expected the ANBU member appearing before him out of nowhere, telling him that the Hokage has requested his presence at once - Naruto knew it was going to suck, but he shrugged it off and made his way to the Hokage's tower.

"Good, you've arrived; take a seat, Naruto."; Naruto complied and took his seat in front of the Hokage, the latter's expression a mixture of interest and concern for the young genin.

Making sure they were alone in his office and that the sound-blocking jutsu he had placed were still holding up, Sarutobi lit his pipe as he said: "Mizuki was discharged from the hospital today, Naruto; you need not worry about him, though: he's currently being interrogated by Ibiki Morino and Inoichi Yamanaka, some of the best men this village has to offer."

"..."

Faking a smile, Sarutobi continued: "So, I hear you're in Kakashi's hands now, eh? Well, I can vouch for his abilities, if my word counts in your eyes; after all, I don't expect you to -"; "Hold it right there!"

Sighing, Sarutobi prepared himself for the inevitable as the door swung open and charging into the office was a young child, a helmet(?) on his head and a long scarf trailing behind him, basically inviting disaster.

"Alright, Grandpa, it's time you and I fight it out for the title of Hokage! Ready or not, here I - !"; Sarutobi shook his head as the intruder tripped over his scarf, resulting in his face meeting the ground in a rather painful manner; though the boy recovered quickly, the damage had already been done and he knew that this attempt - like the many ones before it - was a failure.

"Konohamaru... how many times are we going to have this conversation? If you want to be the Hokage, you must take the same path everyone else your age is taking, a path that does _not_ include charging into my office."; trying to save face, Konohamaru quickly turned an accusing finger at Naruto and said: "Ah-ha! You placed some sort of trap to make me trip, didn't you! As if the great Konohamaru would trip over his own feet! ...or scarf."

Much to Konohamaru's annoyance, Naruto wasn't even paying attention to him, leading the younger of the two boys to angrily stomp on the ground: "Hey, are you even listening! Don't ignore me like I'm a fly or something, I'll have you know I'm the Hokage's grandchild!"; "That's not going to do you much good when you go through with your punishment."

Gulping at the familiar voice, Konohamaru lowered his head as he turned around and acknowledged the newcomer: "I'm sorry, Ebisu-sensei, but-"; "No buts! This is the third time you've pulled this little stunt and I'm beginning to lose my patience!"; "Aw, c'mon, it's only the third time, right?"; "Third time IN A WEEK!"

Sarutobi's attention turned to Naruto as the teen rose from the chair and made his way to the door, the Hokage calling out to him: "I apologize for this intrusion, Naruto, but we're not quite done conversing just yet."; not even turning his head, Naruto responded: "I don't have time for this. If you had something important to tell me, you would've brought it up as soon as I sat down. See you around."

Outraged by Naruto's audacity, Ebisu started ranting about how the "brat" ought to have his tongue tied if only for this heinous act, but he was quickly silenced by Sarutobi who sent him on his way, Konohamaru leaving with him; while the Hokage was messaging his temple and trying to understand Naruto's radical change of behaviour, Konohamaru was occupied with thinking about Naruto's voice - or rather, the cold and uncaring tone his voice carried.

'What happened to that guy...?'

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><p>Naruto, who was busy training that afternoon, quickly threw a kunai towards the source of the noise of a twig snapping, revealing the newcomer as none other than a somewhat frightened Konohamaru.<p>

Looking at Konohamaru for about a second or less, Naruto turned his head around and continued training alone, the younger boy not too sure just how to approach the mysterious blond.

"Uh... hi."; as lame as Konohamaru's greeting was (so he thought), he had gotten Naruto's attention as the later turned to him and stared at him with his vacant expression, his voice matching perfectly: "Why are you here?"; scratching the back of his head, Konohamaru slightly lowered his head as he said: "I, uh, kinda wanted to apologize... for what happened back in Grandpa's office. I mean, you probably had no idea I was going to show up, so you couldn't have set a trap or anything like that, right?"

"..."

"A-Anyway... I was kinda wondering about something and I was hoping you could answer this question I have."; "Whatever. It's not like I've got anything better to do."; fidgeting, Konohamaru mustered as much courage as he could and asked: "Did something happen to you? Not right now, I mean, but in general; it's just... you look really sad and I guess it kinda bugs me, you know?"

Naruto scoffed: "Don't bother with me, kid. I'm not the kind of person you wanna be associated with. Don't you have better things to do with your time, anyway?"; "I'm kinda done training for the day, so I really don't mind talking to you for a while; but why would you tell me not to bother with you? Are you... mad at me?"

Naruto shook his head: "So naïve. Why waste your time on me? Your parents are probably worried about you."; realizing that Naruto wasn't going to open himself up to him anytime soon, Konohamaru decided to take the initiative: "You wanna be friends?"; Naruto laughed a small, humorless laugh: "Good one, kid."

Slightly upset by Naruto's reaction, Konohamaru stomped on the ground once: "I'm serious! No one should be all alone, ninja or not! Besides, having a friend can't hurt, right?"; "Do as you like."

Smiling, Konohamaru waved at Naruto as he began running home: "Meet me here tomorrow evening and we'll train together, ok? I don't know how tough you are, but I'm looking forward to it!"; Naruto could only shake his head at Konohamaru's spirit as he thought: 'It's like looking at a younger me... but... I can't get sidetracked. One wrong step and I'll never find that _someone..._'

_**Ahh... So you've made a new friend today, eh, kit?**_

_..._

_**So young and tasty looking... I must admit, your choice of friends is remarkable.**_

_He's not my friend. I don't give a rat's ass about him._

_**Aww, did I hurt the little kit? Don't forget: one who lives alone, dies alone.**_

_You're one to talk._

_**...**_

_..._

_**Do you hate me, kit?**_

_?_

_**I'm the reason everyone hates you. My presence here is the reason for your misery. Do you hate me? Do you resent me?**_

_Don't make me laugh._

_**What?**_

_You're stuck inside of me - that's not something I could control. Life is life, I suppose._

_**And what I've done to the village?**_

_You're made of chakra and hatred - you once told me so yourself. I can't blame you for wanting to break out of here and destroy stuff... It's in your nature._

_**I see. What if I try to hurt you? Will you hate me then?**_

_I'll just have to make sure that doesn't happen._

_**I'd like to see you try, kit; a mere human could never hurt me.**_

_Alright... Suit yourself._

_**What? The cage... Why is it shrinking...?**_

_You're the almighty Kyuubi - I understand that. In here, however, all that power you have means nothing. I'm in control, here - learn your place, pet._

_**Nngh...! M-My bones...! It's as if they're about to pop out of place...!**_

_Have you ever heard of Prometheus?_

_**What...!**_

_I've been reading books a lot more often ever since that night - helps me vent out my frustrations. In one of the books I read about ancient mythology, I came across the tale of Prometheus: it is told that he stole fire from Zeus, king of the gods, and gave it to the humans down on Earth, below Mount Olympus; as punishment for his actions, Prometheus was bound to a rock while a great eagle ate his liver every day only to have it grow back to be eaten again the next day._

_Do you see where I'm going with this? This is the punishment for your vanity, Kyuubi. I can't kill you, I'm well aware of that; but there's nothing stopping me from controlling your prison, torturing you again and again by having it shrink down against your body, the bones in it popping out of place and tearing through your skin and fur... just like they're doing right now._

_**Damned kit...! How dare you...!**_

_Like I said... learn you place, Kyuubi. I'm the one calling the shots from now on. _

_**RRRRRRAAAAAHHHHH!**_


	2. The Deal

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and any related merchandise, characters and the likes.

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><p>Training rigorously at the training fields, Naruto's training regime was interrupted by the arrival of his "team", Kakashi taking the initiative: "I'm glad to see you're taking your training seriously, Naruto; still, you're gonna have to stop for now - there's something I need you to do along with Sakura and Sasuke."; Naruto didn't even bother responding as he resumed his training, Kakashi deciding it would be best to try and get things started rather than try and discipline Naruto.<p>

"Though Iruka split you all into teams yesterday, which means you've successfully graduated from the academy, it doesn't mean you're officially genin - that goes for you, too, Naruto; sadly, Iruka doesn't have the authority to determine who can and cannot be genin, so I'll have to do so myself. What I have here..." - he pulled something out of his pockets - "...are two bells. Your mission is to snatch them from me by noon - fail to do so, and you get no lunch as well as get tied up to one of the three logs behind you. Oh, did I forget to mention that you'd be also sent back to the academy? My bad. In any case, I expect of you to come at me with the intent to kill - I can't see how you'll be able to succeed otherwise. Any questions before we start? ...No? Alright, then let's get going."

While Sakura and Sasuke immediately hid themselves among the many trees surrounding the training field, Naruto remained perfectly still, his eyes locked on Kakashi; as much as he didn't want to partake in this pointless test, it was a good opportunity for him to see where he was currently standing power-wise. Sakura and Sasuke both wondered why Naruto would leave himself open to an attack like that, seeing as how he was clearly outmacthed; their thoughts were interrupted as Naruto - to their surprise - used the Shadow Clone technique, a high-level jutsu that was not meant to be learnt by genin, and summoned about a dozen clones that created a circle around Kakashi.

Said jounin merely raised an eyebrow at this, wondering what Naruto could be up to; his thougts were interrupted as one of the clones threw a shuriken at him from behind, the man quickly retaliating by blocking the projectile with one of his kunai. As soon as he did that, another shuriken was thrown at him from behind, the jounin blocking it yet again; Kakashi was about to ask Naruto what he was trying to pull, but **another** shuriken came at him, this one having been thrown before he could even block the second shuriken. Soon enough, Kakashi had to block shuriken thrown at him from every direction, the end result being him standing completly unharmed with about 50 or so shuriken surrounding his feet.

Naruto didn't even blink as he released all of his clones, the teen beginning to walk in a circle around Kakashi while the latter eyed Naruto with suspicion; Naruto quickly took out a kunai and rushed at Kakashi, throwing the object at him and using the distraction to try and sweep Kakashi off his feet using his own feet - the jounin, however, jumped as soon as Naruto made his move, aiming a kick from the left at the teen's head. Blocking the incoming kick with his right arm, Naruto pushed Kakashi away and created some distance between them, eyeing Kakashi and remaining crouched in position for about a minute or so before he stood up and said: "I'm out."

While all three other people present were surprised at the statement, Kakashi was the only one to respond to it: "You're out, as in, you're giving up? How come?"; Naruto stopped and answered without turning his head back: "I've learnt two things while fighting you: the first is that I'm far too weak to take on someone like you by myself; the second thing - which stems from the first - is that you were expecting us to work as a team in order to snatch the bells from you, regardless of whom would be left out. I've decided to make things easier for everyone involved by not participating in this "test" - operating within a team is something I'm incapable of doing. If that's all you have to ask, then I'll be leaving."

Seeing the two of them coming out of their hiding, Kakashi instructed Sakura and Sasuke to spar with one another while he would try and talk to Naruto, the test currently on hold. As the jounin caught up to Naruto, he made sure to stand in front of him so that he could get the child's attention; to his mild surprise, Naruto actually stopped and looked at him with a vacant expression on his face. Having apparently gotten Naruto's attention (even if momentarily), Kakashi spoke: "I'm sure you've realized this by now, but sending you back to the academy isn't really an option - not letting a genin who can use the Shadow Clone jutsu be a part of a team, would be a bad decision; however, if you wish to become stronger, you need to learn to trust your comrades and learn to fight alongside them. Remember: those who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash."

A few seconds passed before Naruto responded: "Sakura is useless - you and I both know that; Sasuke's somewhat intelligent, but his clan's occular jutsu - the Sharingan - hasn't awoken in him just yet; I know this because I've done my research with all the free time I have. That being the case, why would I intentionally allow myself to be dragged down by them? I'd be far better off training by myself; if there's a jutsu I wish to learn, I'd read about it in a book, same goes for chakra control. I have no need for a team or a sensei - the only reason I fought you was so that I could gauge my level and see what I would have to work on in order to improve myself."

Naruto began walking once more, only to stop right by Kakashi's side as something occurred to him, something that he immediately voiced: "Actually, I think I have a solution for this problem... I'm willing to work alongside those two losers, but I want you to give me something in return. Before you turn me down, think about this - having said that letting me go would be a bad choice, what do you think should be done: keep your pride and lose a potentially deadly shinobi, or strike a deal with me? I assure you, my demands aren't astronomical."

Realzing that Naruto had understood the situation perfectly, Kakashi responded: "I see. If that's how it is, then I'm willing to make a deal with you. I want you to actively partake in Team 7's activities, be they missions or social bonding; what you want to receive in return is up to you."; not wasting any time, Naruto voiced his request: "Having both fought you and done some thinking about my strengths and weaknesses, I now realize that my weak points are genjutsu and taijutsu; if you can find a way to train me in both efficiently, then I'll be willing to play nice for you. Do we have a deal?"; "Yes. It's a deal."

His expression remaining vacant, Naruto gave Kakashi a nod and began walking back to the training field, only to stop after a few steps as he said: "I almost forgot, there was something else I realized while fighting you - though it was for a brief moment, I could remember what my clones were doing as I dismissed them; I may be wrong, but I think I might have just discovered the real purpose of shadow clones... That being the case, I suggest you think carefully about how you're going to hold your end of the deal - I'd hate to waste my time training for less than what I can actually do."

Having returned to the training field, Naruto took Kakashi by surprise as he suddenly threw a smoke bomb at his feet, using the distraction in order to drag Sakura and Sasuke away into hiding. As soon as the three genin were out of sight, Naruto - who completely ignored his teammates' protests at being hauled by him - said to Sakura without looking at her: "Wait for the signal."

CRASH!

Kakashi's head snapped to the left as he saw Sasuke on the ground, the Uchiha groaning in pain while Naruto emerged from his hiding place, taking out a kunai and forming a fighting stance. Glaring at the blond who had punched him in the cheek seconds ago, Sasuke growled: "What the hell was that about? Do you seriously want to have your ass kicked?"; not bothering to respond, Naruto rushed at Sasuke, swinging the kunai in his hand in an attempt to cut Sasuke; while the latter was able to dodge the attack, Kakashi figured it would be best to interfere before things got out of hand - not to mention the fact that Naruto was apparently not intending to hold his end of the deal.

Sakura, who was watching from behind Kakahsi, was about to scold Naruto and possibly beat him up for touching Sasuke, but as soon as she got close to Kakashi's back, Naruto's eyes were locked with hers, the kunoichi suddenly realizing what this was all about. To Kakashi's surprise, he heard the sound of bells, turning back only to see Sakura smirking triumphantly with the two bells in her hands; as soon as Kakashi saw that, Naruto backed away from Sasuke and withdrew his kunai, Sasuke also realizing what the blond was thinking; while he had to admit the distraction was pretty good, he was rather annoyed by Naruto's sudden actions.

As though he had heard his thougts, Naruto told Sasuke: "Kakashi would've seen through our "fight" if I had told you my intentions; sometimes, a good distraction is one that not even your comrades are aware of."; scratching his head, Kakshi laughed nervously and said: "You got me pretty good, there, Naurto; I honestly thought we'd either be here till nightfall or one of you would give up. Nicely done!"; scoffing, Naruto turned away from his team, beginning to walk in the direction of the village without saying a thing, much to Sasuke's and Sakura's surprise and Kakashi's dismay - if he were to become a shinobi, Naruto would have to change that attitude of his.

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><p><em>I know this chapter is somewhat shorter, but I'd rather do things this way than work on a longer chapter for an entire week.<em>


	3. Mist & Blood

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Naruto-related merchandise and/or characters.

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><p>Currently in the Hokage's office with his team - as well as Iruka - Naruto couldn't help but scoff: the latest mission given to Team 7 consisted of capturing a <em>cat<em>, of all things; sure, he was a genin, but giving him such mundane tasks was beyond humiliating, not to mention time-consuming. He could've spent that time training with Shadow Clones or reading at the library, but the stupid cat just had to run away - although, seeing its owner face-to-face, Naruto had to admit he understood the cat's motivation.

"So, let's see what we have in store for you... Well, you could either babysit an elder's grandson, go shopping for a client in the neighboring village or help with potato-digging; so, what will it be?"; Naruto sighed in irritation, getting the Hokage's attention: "You seem somewhat discouraged, Naruto; tell me, were you expecting more exciting missions?"

Naruto said nothing, but the expression on his face made it clear: he had not the time nor patience to deal with D-ranked missions - getting stronger was all that mattered, and while Kakashi _did _train him in genjutsu and taijutsu (he used a shadow clone), the genin was still eager to become stronger. Having thought over it for a few seconds, the Hokage addressed Naruto once more as he said: "I hear you've discovered the true use of the Shadow Clone jutsu, not to mention that you were able to pass Kakashi's test; I'll have you know, your team is the first to have done so - if nothing else, you should be proud of yourself for that. In any case, I've reconsidered things and decided that it would be for the best if Team 7 were to take on a more challenging task... So how about it, Naruto? Think you can handle a C-ranked mission?"

Receving a nod from Naruto and no response other than shocked expressions from Sakura and Sasuke, the Hokage introduced the team to their next client: the expert bridge builder, Tazuna. The man was quite old and clearly intoxicated, as his sluggish movement and bottle of liquor in his hand suggested; as it turned out, Team 7's objective was to protect Tazuna until he returned to his country and finished the construction of the bridge he had been working on.

While he wasn't thrilled by the mission, Naruto figured it would be a good chance for him to gauge his progress against potential enemies, be they common bandits or other genin-ranked shinobi; still, something else was weighing heavily on his mind as he made his way out of the Hokage's office with the rest of Team 7 and Tazuna: while he had definitely grasped the concept of the Shadow Clone jutsu, his regular clone jutsu was still severly lacking, indicating poor chakra control - now, Naruto didn't consider himself an expert in that field, but he had worked on it according to Kakashi's instructions, yet he had made no progress at all. Was it the Kyuubi interfering with his chakra? Or maybe he simply wasn't as good as he thought he could be?

Still thinking about his lack of progress as he walked beside his team and Tazuna outside the village, Naruto was surprised to hear the sound of chains coming from behind him, turning around to see Kakashi caught off-guard by a couple of shinobi wearing what appeared to be gas masks; he then calmly created 10 shadow clones that stormed the two enemies, the latter releasing Kakashi and leaping back in order to avoid any potential injuries.

Standing in front of his team and Tazuna, Naruto coldly inquired: "Who are you? Have you come for Tazuna?"; not bothering to respond, the two enemy shinobi joined their claw-gloved hands and rushed at Naruto, the genin throwing them a bored look before he jumped above their heads, using their distraction to allow Sasuke to try and fry them to oblivion using his Fireball jutsu; one of the enemy shinobi managed to get out of the way, but the other wasn't as fortunate, the smell of his charred remains filling the area.

Seeing the distressed look on the surviving enemy's face, Naruto used his momentary distraction in order to summon five shadow clones that tackled him from behind, the original one hitting him hard in the back of the head in order to knock him out. Once said enemy shinobi awoke, he realized he was tied to a tree, Naruto standing in front of him with a kunai in his right hand, the boy wearing an indifferent expression on his face as he said: "Your partner's dead - that much you must already know; if you don't want the same treatment, I suggest you start talking."

The enemy shinobi spat on Naruto's face, the latter calmly wiping the saliva off his face as he withdrew his kunai, brought his right hand back and thrust it at him, emitting a scream as Naruto held something in his hand, the rest of the team and Tazuna only being able to see blood dripping down his face. Throwing the unknown object aside, Naruto brought his left hand back, preparing to thrust it when the enemy shinobi finally spoke: "Alright, I'll tell you guys everything, just don't take my other...!"

Satisfied with the answer, Naruto dropped his hand and began questioning the enemy shinobi, everyone else watching in a combination of surprise and dread at the blond's ruthlessness. From what Naruto managed to get from him, it turned out that the enemy shinobi was indeed tasked with killing Tazuna, him and his partner apparently being the "Demon Twins of the Hidden Mist" hired by a criminal named Gato in order to prevent the completion of the bridge's construction. Naruto knew the man was withholding some information from him and concluded that it was probably due to fear of someone more powerful than both Team 7 and Gato; whoever that someone was, Naruto would kill him before he'd allow him to interfere with his mission... or at least fight him in order to see how far he had come in the past few days.

During a boat-ride to the Hidden Mist village, Tazuna explained things further: while Gato was seemingly an extremly wealthy man who was doing perfectly legal business, he was secretly using thugs, rogue shinobi and assassins in order to terrorize the Wave country, the people being unable to retaliate due to their dependence on the man - they were all very poor, and he was the only solution available. Although he didn't care for the people suffering from Gato's iron-fist, Naruto somewhat respected the man for being able to create his own empire of wealth - surely, he had either brains, charisma or an aura of intimidation if he managed to create a situation where there was apparently no way for him to fall from grace.

While travelling down a road leading to the Hidden Mist village, Naruto took everyone by surprise as he suddenly threw a shuriken at a nearby tree, a figure with a massive blade leaping down from it with the shuriken caught between his index finger and his middle finger. Chcuking, the figure - a shinobi with wrapping around his face - addressed Naruto: "Not too bad, kid. Care to tell me your secret?"; Naruto formed a battle stance and drew out a kunai as he responded: "This place reeks of killer intent... Judging by the character of the wimps I'm travelling with, I figured it was someone trying to take us by surprise. Now that I've answered your question, return the favor and answer mine: are you with Gato?"

The man clapped three times, a smirk barely being visible under the wrappings surrounding his face: "You're pretty sharp... Yeah, I've been hired by Gato to 'take care' of his builder problem. I usually refrain from going around and telling people about my profession, but you've earned that much. Name's Zabuza Momochi, "Demon of the Hidden Mist"; care to introduce yourself?"; Naruto merely blinked and addressed his team without turning his head to them: "This one's mine. Get Tazuna to safety as soon as possible - if you interfere with this fight, I'll cut you down."

Kakashi was about to protest, but he was interrupted by Zabuza laughing and respodning to Naruto's boast: "You've got guts, Leaf shinobi - either that or you're suicudal. You **do **realize I won't hesitate to kill you just 'cause you're a kid, right?"; Naruto said nothing as he created about a hundred shadow clones, all of them drawing out kunai as they surrounded Zabuza, preventing him from chasing and killing Tazuna. Looking briefly at Kakashi, the Demon of the Hidden Mist said: "You must be Sharingan Kakashi, right? I'd love to fight you, but this kid's somewhat more interesting at the moment; while I'm fighting him, try and think of a way to entertain me once we get to fight one another."

Knowing better than letting him try to interfere (which he would have definitely done), Naurto had two of his clones kick Kakashi from behind in the weak spots of his legs (the area between the thigh and the lower section of the leg) in order to lower him to his height, a third clone delievering a chop to his neck and knocking him out; five more clones joined in and quickly grabbed everyone by their hands and legs along with the other three clones, the eight of them carrying Team 7 and Tazuna away from what could potentially be a bloodbath.

"Let's go, Zabuza."


	4. A Taste of Power

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Naruto-related merchandise and/or characters.

Also, that shuriken in Iruka's back in the first chapter? I realize I've made a canonical mistake, so just pretend as if he was ambushed by Mizuki while he was scolding Naruto.

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><p>Zabuza allowed himself a smirk as he evaluated his current condition, hundreds of Naruto clones surrounding him; while he <em>could <em>use some of the more powerful jutsu at his disposal, the Demon of the Mist preferred to do things in a more efficient manner as he used his Hidden Mist jutsu, hiding himself from view.

No sooner than he did that, he took Naruto by surprise as he slashed his throat from behind, scowling as 'Naruto' turned out to be just a shadow clone; Zabuza figured he'd give it another shot as he searched through the mist for another Naruto, but was caught off-guard from behind as Naruto came to _him_, instead; the two briefly fought one another using their respective taijutsu, but Naruto - who turned out to be another clone - was soon wiped from existence by Zabuza.

Before Zabuza could formulate a plan, he was surprised to find Naruto diving at him from the sky, the mist allowing the genin to take him by surprise; Zabuza quickly moved out of the way before Naruto could stab him, but was forced to move again and again as about a hundred more Narutos charged at him from above, allowing another clone close in for the kill - which turned out to be a mistake on that clone's part, seeing as how as soon as he tried slashing Zabuza, the latter turned into a puddle of water upon being hit.

Zabuza chuckled and called out to Naruto, saying: "Tell me something, kid: just how was it that you were able to sense my killer intent earlier on and also find me within this mist?"; a response soon came: "I suppose you could say it's because we're both demons of some kind - it would make sense for monsters to feel their own kin when they're close by."; Zabuza's retort was interrupted before he could say a word, two Naruto clones coming at him from his left and right; while Zabuza had to admit the kid was somewhat proficient at taijutsu, he was still a novice and it took less than half-a-minute for him to deal with the clones.

"Huh. It looks like I underestimated you... Guess it's time I tried _it _out..."; the fog was suddenly and abruptly lifted as Naruto's body had become cloaked with the Kyuubi's red chakra, allowing him to lift the mist. Zabuza had a predatory grin on his face as he said: "Finally ready to get serious, eh? I had no idea you had this much power - peg me impressed!"; Naruto calmly responded: "To be honest, this is new to me, too - I didn't think things would go this smoothly the first time I tried using this power. Still, I suppose you'd make a good opponent to test it against, now that all my clones have been dispelled..."

Zabuza immediately dodged to the left as Naruto charged at him, the mercenary swinging his massive blade in order to cut Naruto in half; the blond, much to Zabuza's surprise, caught the blade between his hands and proceeded to yank it out of his hands with a powerful tug, the teen now claiming it for his own. Naruto lifted the blade with ease and examined it, saying: "For you to handle this blade with such ease... You must've had it for a long time. If it wasn't for this power, I wouldn't have been able to wield it like you do; I guess it's time for you to change tactics."

Naruto charged at Zabuza and began slashing away at him, the latter dodging every blow albeit with some difficulty; creating some distance between himself and Naruto, Zabuza quickly formed hand signs and used his Water Dragon jutsu, Naruto doing his best to avoid it as well as Zabuza, who was trying to reclaim his blade.

Though he did not get away unscathed, Naruto realized he now had the upper hand, if Zabuza's now slightly heavier breathing was of any indication - no doubt he had more chakra at his disposal than Zabuza, the battle turning into that of attrition. Taking advantage of his opponent's fatigue, Naruto once again charged at Zabuza, the blade in his hands finally making contact with flesh; Naruto scowled as 'Zabuza' turned into water, another one using more hand signs behind him; though Zabuza loathed to admit it, he had been cornered and it was time he used something with a little more juice in it...

"Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique!"; Naruto scowled as he saw the surging wave of water coming at him - even with the Kyuubi's chakra, taking the full brunt of this technique would definitely leave him hurting. Focusing his chakra, Naruto let out a feral roar that pushed the water away, the Kyuubi's chakra dissipating and leaving him more exhausted than Zabuza. The latter prepared to try and deal the finishing blow, but was interrupted by the arrival of Kakashi, the jonin coming to Naruto's aid after regaining his consciousness and dispelling the Naruto clones who were carrying him and everyone else.

Zabuza spared Naruto a glance and a smirk as he made his retreat, Kakashi now left with an irate Naruto glaring daggers at him while saying: "Hatake...! Why did you - !"; "Though you may not act like it, you're a part of Team 7; abandoning you is out of the question. Had I not made it here right now, Zabuza would've killed you and reclaimed the Executioner's Blade. Now that I think about it, that was quite the accomplishment, taking that blade from him; I certainly didn't think a genin could do it."; his consciousness slowly fading, Naruto retorted: "Don't bullshit me... It's not as if you don't know... what I really am..."

Kakashi sighed as he carried the unconscious Naruto to where everyone was waiting for them, the jonin somewhat saddened by the thought of Naruto having to deal with his burden as a jinchuriki.

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><p><strong>I need to apologize for a couple of things: first, the battle scene - in my opinion - wasn't that good, and that's because I find it hard writing fighting scenes; second thing is that the chapter ended up being a LOT shorter than usual, but I intend to write on a scale of 1.5K - 2K from now on.<br>**


	5. Men and Dogs

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Naruto-related merchandise and/or characters.

Also, special thanks to Amora Journeys and crazy james for helping me rekindle my love for writing fanfics - you guys rock!

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><p>His eyelids slowly opening, Naruto awoke to the sound of chatter; as he made out his surroundings – a small, poor-looking residence - the boy realized he had been carried to safety by Kakashi, said Jounin conversing with the rest of Team 7, Tazuna and two unfamiliar faces: a middle-aged woman and a small child, no likely older than 10.<p>

Noticing the movements from Naruto, Kakashi put on a fake smile (at least, as possible as it was to smile with that mask on…) and said: "Back from Dreamland, hmm? Good, I've some briefing to do, and –";

"Save it."

Turning his back on both the astonished new faces and everyone else, Naruto was about to walk out the front door as a voice called out to him: "You're gonna die, you know; now's a good time for you to run away."

Turning his head at the direction of the voice, Naruto found himself looking at the unknown child, his face almost rivaling Naruto's in terms of indifference; seeing as how Naruto said nothing, the boy – who Naruto would later learn was called Inari – continued: "You're part of the team assigned to protect Gramps, right? That means you'll end up getting in Gatou's way – and die. You should—"; "—run away?"

Seeing the surprised look on Inari's face, Naruto coldly retorted: "Unlikely. Zabuza's still around, looking for a rematch – and I'd hate to keep him waiting. Why don't you be a good little boy and go suck on your mother's—"

Naruto was interrupted by Inari rushing at him, the younger boy giving Naruto a glare that was fairly impressive for someone of his age and almost screaming: "Don't get cocky! Anyone who gets in Gatou's or this Zabuza-guy's, way - dies; what makes you think you're better than everyone else?!"

Sakura was about to play the role of mediator, but was shocked to find a kunai lodged deep into the wooden wall next to her, the metallic object still shaking from the impact; his hand still in the throwing position, Naruto didn't bother looking at Sakura as he gave Inari an impassive look.

"You're a sad sight, kid… It's almost laughable, really. In my eyes, you're nothing more than a dog, barking at the heavens and expecting everything to go your way – but that's where your logic fails: whereas dogs _bark_, Men **do**; go ahead and bark as much as you want, but that won't change a single thing, ever. What, then, do you think you are: a man, or a dog?"

Naruto turned his gaze to Team 7 and continued: "The three of you aren't any better, either: you follow the Hokage's will with absolute obedience, just like dogs trying to please their masters. How can any of you achieve your goals, when you confine yourselves to living like tamed pups?

…I've had enough. It's about time I got some fresh air."

And with that, Naruto left, now heading for the nearby woods.

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><p>It was a rare luxury for shinobi to find peace of mind, even if it was partial and temporary – and yet, Naruto was 'fortunate' enough to have Mother Nature as a means of relieving uneasiness.<p>

That, however, did not mean he was easily distracted.

"Who's there?"

Smiling, an effeminate-looking youth introduced himself to the (in his eyes) surprisingly sharp blonde: "A pleasure to meet you. It's rare to see anyone enjoying the sights of nature, nowadays. I'm Haku; what's your—"; "I don't have it."

Seeing the confused look on the boy's face, Naruto – whose face was the only part of his body turned towards Haku up till then – turned to face the other boy as he explained: "The Executioner's Blade – I don't have it on me right now. I figured Zabuza would've come himself to retrieve his own weapon, but I guess you're his lapdog for such tasks; a bit frail-looking, but I doubt this rose hasn't any thorns."

Haku's expression became cold and calculated as he inquired: "How did you know about Zabuza and I? Just… who are you?"; tilting his head slightly to the right, Naruto replied: "To be honest, I _didn't_ know about you and Zabuza; that you'd be asking me such a question, must mean my gamble has paid off. You might think it paranoid to falsely peg random bypassers as assistants to a rouge Shinobi, but I prefer to make sure."

Clutching his fists a bit tighter, Haku said: "Fair enough; but you still haven't told me who you are. Did Tazuna hire some extra help while we weren't looking?"; Naruto let out a yawn (having just awoken from slumber) and replied: "No. I'm with the group initially assigned to watch Tazuna's back. Nevertheless…" – Naruto allowed the ghost of a smile to appear on his face – "…if you ask me something like _that_, I might get the wrong impression; if I didn't know any better, I'd have to say you were **afraid** of me."

Not waiting for Haku's retort, Naruto turned his back on him and casually began making his way back to Tazuna's residence – at least, that's how he would've wanted things to go down, if not for the kunai now pointed at his Adam's Apple.

Naruto's expression changed to that of slight amusement as Haku coldly glared at the blonde and said: "Regardless of your identity, you've made it clear you are a threat to Zabuza; if you'd be so kind as to point me in the direction of Tazuna's whereabouts, I might let you walk away with a severed arm; try to resist, however—"

Haku's eyes widened in shock as he realized he couldn't even move a muscle – his entire body was somehow stuck in place!

Once he saw Naruto's now red and silted eyes, Haku was forced to confront the ludicrous reality at hand: he was being paralyzed by nothing more than Naruto's killer intent – and the cold look on said boy's face did little to help relieve Haku's deep anxiety.

Suddenly, Haku dropped to the ground, his body once again under his control; now panting heavily, he heard the sound of Naruto's footsteps as the latter calmly said: "Tell Zabuza I said 'Hi'… and make sure you don't piss yourself along the way, _pretty-boy_."

And with that, he was gone.


	6. Seeing Red

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Naruto-related merchandise and/or characters.

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><p>"What's wrong? Not gonna fight back, loser?!"<p>

Inari has had better days, that much was certain; not that being picked on by bullies was of any consolation compared to worse experiences he had gone through, but this experience in particular was of slight relief - at the very least, he'd get away with a few bruises and no emotional burdens to deal with later on.

He was being picked on by three kids of his age-group, the 'leader' - a black-haired, mean-faced boy - grabbed the unresponsive Inari by the collar of his shirt and swung back a punch that would no doubt leave Inari sore for the remainder of the day; before he could make his move, however, the boy's fist was grabbed from behind, said brat and his entourage now sporting frightened expressions as the newcomer's face showed bone-chilling indifference - or was it annoyance?

"You brats are too damn loud... Get lost."; his pride getting the best of him, the bullies' leader glared at the newcomer and responded with: "Who the heck are you, anyway?! A kid like you can't tell me what to-!"

CRASH!

Without any warning, the leader was delivered a painful headbutt, his nose now bleeding profusely as he and his companions ran away screaming in fear. Inari, while grateful for the newcomer's interference, gave him a heated glare as he clenched his fists and spat out: "I didn't your help, you know! These guys couldn't even scratch me!"

"...You're pretty noisy, yourself, pup. Care for a repeat performance?"; seeing Inari's anger being greatly subdued, the newcomer - or rather, Naruto - began making his way to the nearby fields in order to train with Kakashi and the rest of Team 7, only to be inquired once more: "...How come you helped me, anyway? I thought you hated me or something."; still looking straight ahead, Naruto calmly responded: "Hate you? Not a bad joke - never would've pegged you for a comedian. No, I don't hate you - I just dislike you, the same way I dislike everyone else. As for helping you... I felt like it, pup."

With the blonde making his way to training, Inari was left standing behind, many thoughts and emotions running through his head, his view of Naruto now greatly conflicted.

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><p>The training in itself wasn't all that bad, nor was it too difficult: sure, getting the hang of basic chakra manipulation (to the feet) was of some inconvenience to a Jinchuriki, but it was nothing Naruto couldn't handle in the end. Sakura, though devoted to Sasuke, couldn't help but respect Naruto's progress thus far; sure, his attitude could use some much needed changes, but his determination and collected nature made quite the impression on the pink-haired kunoichi, to say nothing of Kakashi and (though he would never admit it) Sasuke, the Uchiha begrudgingly beginning to accept the fact that Naruto was no longer the dead-last he had come to know in the academy; surely, a match with the Uzumaki child would be of great use to him in the near future.<p>

To Kakashi's shock, Naruto actually took time out of his training regimen to tutor Sakura and Sasuke about combat efficiency in terms of stealth and maintaining the element of surprise; while his fellow Genin were grateful (albeit extremely taken aback by Naruto's spontaneous initiative), Kakashi had been made clear to by said blonde that he was merely holding up his end of the deal, and that he had "no use for extra baggage on the battlefield"; Naruto, however, was no fool: merely holding his end of the deal was one factor, yes, but he knew all-too-well just how deadly Zabuza could be while in combat - the last thing the blonde wanted was to explain to the Hokage his survival in contrast to the deaths of his two 'teammates'; no doubt it would be a hassle, something that Naruto couldn't afford himself to have.

Having trained himself - as well as aided Sakura and Sasuke to a great extent - Naruto was left fatigued as he took a quick shower and made his way to his temporary bed in Tazuna's residence; no more than 10 seconds after lying on the bed, the boy had already fallen asleep.

_He knew not whose voice or face it was, but he could tell it was a woman - one with long, beautiful red hair; the rest of his surroundings being obscured (or at least very heavily blurred), Naruto allowed himself to focus on the woman's image, said red-haired shedding tears as she spoke to someone. Naruto, though unable to make out about 90% of what was said, felt an inexplicable urge to comfort her, if only for her tears to stop flowing; no matter how hard he tried to reach out to her, however, she was simply beyond his grasp, her voice and face beginning to grow distant as he slowly awoke from his slumber._

Messaging his eyes, Naruto was surprised to find that he had unknowingly shed a few tears from both eyes while he was asleep, said revelation - combined with what little details he remembered from his dream - causing the boy to frown in confusion and discontent.

_That dream just now... and that woman... Could it be that-_

Naruto's thoughts were cut short as he felt an ominous presence drawing near, the boy leaping out of bed as he quickly prepared his weapons (he had slept with his clothes still on him), signaling Tsunami and Inari to get to safety, preferably in the basement; ignoring the questioning looks on everyone else's faces, Naruto - who was already making his way outside - sported an ominous grin, the following sequence of events now becoming clear to him.

"Zabuza Momochi... Time for round 2."


End file.
